Joan Seavey, Upper Darby, PA
HAVERTOWN - Word is spreading fast about Philadelphia CyberKnife in Havertown, home to the only robotic radiosurgery unit in southeastern Pennsylvania. That’s because patients who are treated there for their tumors are saying good things - about the effectiveness of the advanced treatments provided there, the lack of side effects, and the skill and friendliness of the physicians and staff members.
People like John Kowac, for example. Eleven years ago, John Kowac’s left lung was removed because of cancer. Then he learned that there was a tumor in his right lung. When his physicians determined that surgery would not be an option, they suggested that radiosurgery might be the right approach.
Kowac was unsure. “I was concerned. I didn’t know anything about CyberKnife. But with the help of my daughter and by talking with my radiation oncologist, Dr. John Lamond, I learned a lot more about it and realized that it might be the right choice.”
Lamond, a Crozer-Chester Medical Center radiation oncologist, and Crozer-Keystone vascular surgeon Vincent Moss created a treatment plan for Kowac, and he underwent three treatments at Philadelphia CyberKnife in August of 2007. The good news: CT scans soon afterwards showed that the treatments were effective, greatly reducing the size of the tumor. Today, just a scar remains where the cancer was located.
“The experience was painless and great. I can’t praise everyone at Philadelphia CyberKnife enough,” says the Marcus Hook resident, who also recognized his physicians Michael Soojian, M.D. (oncology), Stephen Conrad, M.D. (internal medicine), and Leonard Berkowitz, M.D. (pulmonary) for their assistance.
The CyberKnife is the only FDA-approved completely robotic stereotactic radiosurgery system available in the world that targets and destroys small and previously inaccessible tumors or lesions. Stereotactic radiosurgery refers to the use of three-dimensional targeting system to direct a high-energy beam of radiation at cancerous or other diseased tissue. The radiation comes from a lightweight linear accelerator mounted on a robotic arm.
The CyberKnife uses a combination of image guidance technology and computer-controlled robotics to continuously track, detect and correct for tumor and patient movements – such as normal breathing - throughout the treatment. If the patient moves during treatment, the CyberKnife automatically detects and compensates for the change, further ensuring that the target tumor location, and not healthy tissue, is reached.
The system’s accuracy minimizes the amount of radiation affecting surrounding healthy tissue. The CyberKnife can be used to treat tumors throughout the body, including the brain, lungs, prostate, pancreas, liver, spine and those arising in areas of the body that were previously irradiated.
“It is like a ‘smart bomb.’ It can hit a moving target.” says John Lamond, M.D., radiation oncologist at Crozer-Chester Medical Center. “It focuses on the tumor and is the most accurate way to deliver radiosurgery.”
David Schwartz of Delaware County is another patient who has benefited from the accuracy and strength of the CyberKnife.
After getting the bad news that a large tumor was found in his liver – and could not be removed by surgery – he underwent about eight months of chemotherapy. His oncologist, John Sprandio, M.D., medical director of the Delaware County Regional Cancer Center and chief of Hematology/Oncology and chair of the Department of Medicine at DCMH, consulted with Rachelle Lanciano, M.D., chief of Radiation Oncology at Delaware County Memorial Hospital. The physicians determined that he was a candidate for radiosurgery, and Schwartz underwent treatment at Philadelphia CyberKnife. Like Kowac, Schwartz responded well to the treatments.
“The results were better than what we could have predicted,” Lanciano says. “We were thrilled.”
“What started as a not-so-good prognosis may turn out to be an amazing success story because at this point, I’m being told that there are no signs of cancer activity,” Schwartz says. He adds, “What most impressed me about my CyberKnife experience was the people. When you have quality people like that, it just makes things easier.”
“Easy” is a word you might often hear from CyberKnife patients. While the CyberKnife is very “high tech,” it has a “soft touch” on patients. Radiation treatments are performed in one to five sessions and last between 30 to 90 minutes. No anesthesia is given and the patient can return home the same day. The side effects are minimal and depend on the location of treatment.
“Everyone at Philadelphia CyberKnife was gentle, kind and reassuring,” says Joan Seavey of Upper Darby, who was treated for an unresectable melanoma recurrence near her ear. “They make you feel very comfortable. I asked for a lot of information, and they didn’t hesitate to give it to me.”
Seavey was first diagnosed with her tumor in 2001. Since that time, she has endured 28 surgeries to fight the cancer. Seavey’s cancer grew back below the left ear, very close to important nerves and blood vessels.
“Regular radiation treatments have not been very effective in this situation,” Lamond says. “But Cyberknife now has a good track record for melanoma when it is not resectable.”
“What’s great is that the treatments have been successful. The tumor has gone away for now,” Seavey says. “I know there’s no guarantee that it won’t come back, but I feel good and am optimistic about the future.”
The physicians are optimistic about the future of the CyberKnife. “As time goes on, I’m sure we’ll find more applications for the CyberKnife. It’s opening up new avenues to treat those who didn’t have many choices before,” Lanciano says.
Lamond says, “With the CyberKnife, we can treat cases that, just a few years ago, were impossible. We’ve worked closely with other Cyberknife centers in the United States, particularly our sister institution, Rocky Mountain Cyberknife, part of U.S. Radiosurgery. They have treated thousands of patients, and over the past 2 years we have treated over 300. Patients have been treated for many different diagnoses - not all have cancer - and locations, including brain, spine, lung, liver, pancreas and prostate.”
Specifically, the CyberKnife has shown great promise in treating patients with lung cancer – so much promise, in fact, that a randomized trial is being done to compare the outcomes of lung cancer patients who were treated with surgery with lung cancer patients who were treated with CyberKnife.
Philadelphia CyberKnife is a department of Delaware County Memorial Hospital, part of the Crozer-Keystone Health System.
For more information about Philadelphia CyberKnife, call (610) 446-6850 or visit http://cyberknife.crozer.org. For more information about Crozer-Keystone cancer services, or to request an appointment with a Crozer-Keystone physician who treats cancer patients, call 1-866-695-HOPE or visit http://ckcancer.crozer.org.